Summer Update!

Phew! Its been a very busy few months at Sheffield CU HQ.


We've had two fantastic awards ceremonies, met lots of new schools, have been out validating new and exciting Learning Destinations, published our 2011 Participation and Performance Analysis, co-hosted a huge South Yorkshire CU event at Magna Science and Adventure Centre, and had lots of meeting with potential new partners and colleagues within the Council to spread the message of Sheffield CU even further! 


There are now over 15,700 children and young people across the city who are participating in Sheffield Children's University. Collectively they have clocked up a staggering 531, 710 hours. Amazing!

Students receive their awards at Firth Park Community Arts College

It is always the best part of the job celebrating and rewarding children and young people with their certificates and badges for giving up their own time to learn, so we felt very lucky to have not one but two award ceremonies last week! The first took place at Firth Park Community Arts College and children and young people were invited from the family of schools to receive Bronze (30 hours) and Silver (65 hours) Awards. There were fantastic performances from HBH Academy who sang 'Tonight's the Night' from their school production 'Cinderella Rockerfella' and from the Firth Park Jazz Ensemble.


We also held our Primary Gold Awards Ceremony at the Town Hall, and invited over 70 children to receive their Gold (100 hours) Awards from the Deputy Lord Mayor, Cllr Vickie Priestley. 5 children nominated by their schools to receive a National Honorary Award for commitment to CU learning, or a National Outstanding Achievement Award were also invited to attend. The event was a fantastic success and we received some lovely feedback from parents/carers about how important  Sheffield CU and the ceremonies are. You can find the photos from the ceremony on our new Youtube channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/SheffieldCU/

Children from Dobcroft Junior School receive their CU Awards from the  Deputy Lord Mayor, Cllr Vickie Priestley and Cllr Jenny Armstrong

The event held at Magna Science and Adventure Centre was a fantastic opportunity for us to work alongside other local CU's to host an event for headteachers, school staff and Governors to come along and find out more about Children's University and it's impact. Guest speakers included Ger Graus, Chief Executive of the National Children's University Trust, Hilary Robinson, child author and broadcaster and one of the student ambassadors from Rotherham CU. There was also a huge Learning Destination marketplace including Museum Sheffield, Rother Valley Country Park along with their laser class dinghy and The University of Sheffield. Feedback was positive, and we hope to continue to work with our neighbouring CUs on further developments.


We published our 2011 Performance and Participation Analysis shows that children and young people who participate in out of school CU activities achieve better at both KS2 and KS4 and exceed their estimated results, whereas Non CU pupils do not meet their estimates You can find the full report on the bottom of the page here: www.sheffield.gov.uk/cu

Just a few more updates: our latest CU summer Passport to Learning newsletter has been sent into schools, and can be found online here: www.sheffield.gov.uk/cu . It includes information on activities taking place throughout the school holidays where children and young people can collect credits. We welcome lots of new Learning Destinations (LD) across the city including: Art in the Park, Zest, Yong-Gi Thai Kwon Do, 82nd Chapeltown Scouts, 211th St Wilfrid's Brownies, Sparkles Events, Pyjama Drama and Kay Hudson Yoga to name but a few! When collecting credits from Learning Destinations, it is essential that the LD keeps a register that is sent to us to ensure children and young people receive the credits they have earnt. If a LD is not keeping a register, we will not receive any record of the number of hours any child or young person has taken part in and won't be able to award credits. Please bear this is mind when visiting activities across the summer!


Also we are planning for a special event in October as part of Off the Shelf Festival. We will be taking over the middle section of the Winter Garden during the half term holidays, providing exciting activities related to literacy. Visit the Off the Shelf website for more information about the festival: http://www.welcometosheffield.co.uk/off-the-shelf


We have lots of new schools who have joined the Sheffield CU family, and I want to take an opportunity to welcome to Greenhill Primary, Dobcroft Infants, Prince Edward Primary, St Catherine's Catholic Primary and Malin Bridge Primary as new schools as well as welcoming Dore Primary and Manor Lodge Primary back into the fold! We have meetings with more potential schools in the coming weeks and look forward to welcoming them onboard soon!


Finally, we had a VERY exciting meeting with the new Chancellor of Sheffield Children's University and can't wait until we can announce more information. Watch this space!